What we do for love
by Avid fangirl for life
Summary: Regina is about to be tortured, but Emma is present and takes her place. This isn't vivid on details of torture or anything like that, but I'm going to rate it m just in case.


You come to surrounded by the sound of pained whimpers that can only be coming from the woman you love. Your vision is blurry and your head is swimming, but you try to stand regardless. Fighting with Regina aside, there's no way in hell that you'd let her suffer and it'd take an idiot not to recognise that she must be in a significant amount of pain. You can't remember what happened, or where you are.

You fail at trying to stand, it turns out that your hands and feet are bound together, the highest you can rise is to your knees. You can hear two people muttering and you realise what has happened. You had been on your way to find Regina and upon finding her with Greg and Tamara, you had been promptly attacked and knocked out.

Shit, is your only thought. The pair stood muttering in the corner finally realise that you are no longer unconscious, and this seems to send them into action. Tamara comes towards you, as your vision clears you can see she's holding a gun. It's aimed at you, trained directly at your head. It doesn't bother you in the slightest, it's the sight that is directly in front of you that makes bile rise in your throat and your heart beat rapidly. You've had a gun aimed at your head before, it's not a big deal, but Regina is strapped to a table in front of you with electrodes gelled to her head.

You know exactly what they're about to do to her, and you can't let them. Greg is stood in front of the machine and you know that the minute he turns that dial, she'll be in absolute agony. As if she hadn't already been through enough. Regina is finally beginning to stir, her eyes fluttering as she wakes up. From the maniacal and somewhat demented grin covering Greg's face you know this is what he has been waiting for. This is why he had been here from the start.

Something in you steels your resolve, and you're waiting for the right moment to speak. When Regina's eyes finally open, her eyes move from side to side as she takes in her surroundings.

"Nice of you to join us Madame Mayor."

You watch as Regina turns her head towards Greg and despite the position she is in she snarks at Greg. You don't think she's seen you yet, you really hope she doesn't, at least, not yet. You're certain shed see the slightly crazed look in your eyes, and shed figure out what you're planning on doing pretty quickly.

No matter what, that can't happen because she'd goad him into starting the machine and then you'd have to watch her suffer and die. Your parents will be looking for you both by now, they'll hopefully find you before you die. If Greg starts with Regina now though, there's no telling if she'll live through it.

You won't sit by and watch her die, no matter what is happening between the pair of you at the moment. You couldn't sit back and watch her suffer, you know that you'd feel every second of it just as much as she would.

You can see Greg taunting Regina, his mouth is moving and you can hear the crazed lilt of his voice ringing out, but you can't seem to focus on the words. Maybe it's the barrel of the gun directed at the side of your head, or the fact that the safety is off and Tamara's hand is shaking like crazy. One slip and you would be dead, and then you won't be able to save Regina from what is about to happen. One slip and not only will you and the woman you love probably be dead by the end of the day, but possibly everyone else in Storybrooke. One slip and Henry will be left without a mother, which is just made worse by the fact he hasn't forgiven either of you yet. Not fully.

You make yourself focus on the words slipping free from Greg's demented mouth, you watch as the spittle flies free and lands in Regina's face. Apart from the disgusted wrinkle of her nose, she appears unmoved by this whole situation. You know her better and you can see that she is all kinds of furious in this moment. Greg and Tamara's should feel relieved that she's lacking magic or they'd both be fried to crisps by now.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, you watch as Greg turns back to the machine. You watch and catch the brief flicker of what you know to be fear in Regina's eyes as Greg lifts his hand to the dial. That is all it takes for you to speak.

"Stop" falls from your lips, and it seems to surprise all present. Greg pauses in his activity and turns back around, a bemused look painted across his demented features. Tamara's hand ceases in its shaking as she looks at you. Regina, upon seeing you loses all composure as though she senses what you are about to do. She tries to shake her head at you, as though to tell you to stop, but she must know that she is too late, it won't stop you.

"What is it you wanted Sheriff? I'm kinda busy at the moment, as you can see." He gestures towards Regina, and you take a final deep breath to prepare yourself for what you are about to do.

"You want to hurt her right? Like she hurt you?" You pause to see his reaction, and you watch as he nods eagerly." Hurting her physically isn't the right sorta pain then, you need something worse. I guess you already thought of that, but I'm guessing you're above torturing children and so you settled for her."

Greg nods his head at you in confirmation.

"What if I told you that you could hurt her like that? You don't need to torture her, you don't need to hurt her. There's someone else you can use." You hold your breath, hoping he'll take the bait.

He does.

"Who's that the, Sheriff? The boy's the only person she loves."

You look at Regina, there are tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes, on an upward journey towards her hairline. She's looking at you as though pleading, begging you not to do this. But you have to, for you it is the only way.

"You're wrong."

He seems to consider this before turning away.

"It doesn't matter now. We don't have time to go back for someone else. This is our chance, I'll settle for hurting her. Thanks for the input though Sheriff, we'll consider not killing you now."

In a shaky voice, you voice the words that seem to halt him in his tracks.

"You don't need to go anywhere, I'm right here."

He turns towards you, and his grin makes you want to shrink back into the wall and disappear. You won't even let yourself flinch though, you simply stare at him, not moving. You go on to explain the answer to what you know will be his next question.

"We were fighting, still are actually. Things have been, well, rough to say the least recently. But she loves me, I'm her soul mate. I'm not stupid enough to lie, you've got a gun to my head and you're about to torture the woman I love."

No further words are said. Before you know it, you are in Regina's place on the table. Hands and feet strapped down, a strap across your waist to stop you from convulsing too violently. The grin on Greg's face never once wavers as he applies the gel to your temples before attaching the pads.

You turn your head towards where Regina is sat, knowing that she will be looking at you, at least until it starts and maybe even then,and mouth two words to her as Greg moves back towards the machine. I'm sorry.

Your mouth has barely finished forming the words before a pain unlike any other jolts through your body. All thoughts leave your head as you violently begin to convulse and writhe atop the table.

.

You wake from the blackness suddenly, as though you're being pulled from it, a drowning man breaking through to the surface. For a moment, you don't recognise your surroundings -you're not in your bedroom- before you realise you're in Regina's bedroom. It's a place you haven't been welcome in for quite some time.

You register a form next to you, and even though it hurts to do so, you turn your head towards it. It is Regina, and she's looking at you. It's not a nice look either, she looks ready to murder you. If you could move you'd probably run for the hills before she begins throwing fireballs. You settle for looking as sheepish as possible, and the look on her face immediately softens.

She looks as though she is once again on the verge of tears. You feel terrible, of course you do, but you don't regret what you did. You can smell the burnt flesh of your face, it's not very pleasant. With some difficulty, you open your arms to her, and she carefully burrows into them. She turns in your arms, so that she is facing you. There are tears dripping down her cheeks, and you clumsily bring your hand up so your thumbs can wipe them away. You guess that electroshock torture effected your motor control.

"You're an idiot. I thought you were going to die, I thought you were going to die whilst we were fighting."

You have no idea what to say. "Uhh,yeah but I'm your idiot?"

You didn't mean for it to be a question. It probably shouldn't be at the top of all of your concerns right now, but you suppose it is. As far as you're concerned you're both alive, unless you're both dead and this is some sort of strange death dream, and so your top concern is fixing whatever is between you. Happy endings needing to be reached and all of that.

She seems to sense your uncertainty and she smiles tenderly. After placing a gentle kiss to your lips (barely there, but still) she states "of course you are." Which somewhat sets your mind at rest.

You are both silent for a while, her nestled in your arms before a need to question your location arises in you.

"Regina"

"Yes, my love?"

"Why are we here?"

She looks at you with a frown, she almost looks worried.

"What do you mean?"

"Well why am I in your bedroom and not at the loft?"

She smirks even as a look of relief washes over her face.

"Oh, that. Well after the, uh, incident, the two idiots tried to take you there and I may or may not have refused."

"Oh."

You're confused because she seems embarrassed.

"What's wrong? It's not like they didn't know about us."

"Well, I may have told them that you and Henry were moving in, and I may have moved you in without asking using magic."

She won't meet your eyes and you chuckle under your breath. It means that she still wants you, completely although you're an ass, and that you two are no longer fighting. When she hears your chuckle, she glares at you, and you immediately stop, the laughter dying in your throat. She seems amused by this, but you can't bring yourself to care.

Carefully, she leans down and presses her lips to yours. After pulling back, she stands and heads towards the door, where she pauses and glances back over her shoulder, smirk firmly in place.

"Miss Swan, take care not to laugh at me in the future, or you'll find yourself on the coach."

You swallow and nod, mumbling to yourself as she leaves "Man, I am so whipped."

You can hear her laughter as she walks down the hallway.


End file.
